PROJECT CARS 2 WELCOMES LAMBORGHINI—7 RAGING BULLS BUILT TO PERFORM

Lamborghini has been an iconoclast in the world of supercars since the foundation of Automobili Lamborghini in 1963. Founder Ferruccio Lamborghini had already built a successful manufacturing empire by then, and that business experience and acumen would prove invaluable. The versatility of his first creations, that included both a V12 engine that would remain competitive for half-a-century, and a car—but three years after the company was formed—that became the template for supercar design to this day, charted an assured course for his fledgling brand that went on to define the passion of performance for generations of enthusiasts.

A Lamborghini is immediately recognizable; combining the ethos of the raging bull with aggressive styling and ear-shattering sound, there is always a unique expectation around the cars built in Sant’Agata Bolognese. An expectation that has been fully met by the seven Project CARS 2-bound Lamborghinis.

The Seven Raging Bulls in Project CARS 2

The seven Lamborghinis coming to Project CARS 2 on September 22nd are precisely what fans expect from the world’s most authentic racing franchise—the fastest and most exotic examples from the House of the Raging Bull’s considerable pedigree.

That pedigree begins with 1999’s Lamborghini Diablo GTR, built around the now fabled Diablo GT.

The Diablo GTR was extensively lightened from the GT, with everything but the roof coming in carbon-fibre, and it came with only one seat—a racing seat surrounded by an integrated roll cage. Aero’ was also drastically improved with a rear-spoiler directly fixed onto the chassis.

Powering the Diablo GTR is the mythical Lamborghini 6-litre V12 pushing out 590hp. Only 32 Diablo GTRs were built, each with lowered and stiffened suspension, rear-wheel drive, and a 5-speed manual transmission. They were raced in the Lamborghini-only Super Trofeo series, but also had some success Down Under where it won the 2003, and 2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship.

A V12 mated to a 5-speed manual ’box pushing 590hp and weighing 1,395KGs along with and scissor doors—does it get any more primal than that?

The 2010 Lamborghini Sesto Elemento—‘Sixth Element’ (AKA, the atomic number for carbon)—may be even wilder. The Sesto Elemento pushes out 570hp from a sublime-sounding V10 mated to a 6-speed semi-automatic transmission. Given the name, it’s no surprise that the chassis, body, and even suspension components are made of carbon, and that, coupled with two seats bolted onto the chassis, brings the weight down to a bewildering 999KGs. That means 0-100kmh in 2.5 seconds, and a top speed in excess of 300kmh. This is the best overall power-to-weight ratio of any Lamborghini in history.

Twenty Sesto Elemento Lamborghinis were built, all sold for racing and track-days.

The low production numbered Lamborghinis in Project CARS 2 gets even more limited with the Lamborghini Veneno. Only four were ever produced (one went directly to the Lamborghini museum, and three went on sale). Unsurprisingly, they were then the most expensive production cars in history at the time (Eur 3,000,000).

Unveiled for the 50th anniversary of the founding of Lamborghini, the Veneno was a revelation when it was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show in 2013.

The Veneno (poison, in Spanish) is built on the Aventador SV chassis. The engine is an enormous 6.5-litre V12 pushing out 750hp. For that kind of power and performance (335kmh—electronically limited—and 0-100kmh in 2.8 seconds), you get a special 7-speed ISR ’box and four-wheel drive.

The Lamborghini Huracán Coupé, meanwhile, the successor to Lamborghini’s “entry” supercar, the Gallardo, comes with the bulletproof Lamborghini 5.2-litre V10 kicking out 610hp with both direct and multi-point fuel-injection. With a weight of 1,422KGs, and on your way to 325kmh, you’ll get to 100 in 3.2 seconds, and 200kmh in 9.9 seconds.

For many Lamborghini enthusiasts, the Bizzarrini-Lamborghini V12 that began life in Lamborghini’s first-ever car, the 1964 Lamborghini 350 GT, was the last word in greatest-ever production power units. So when Lamborghini decided to introduce their new V12 for the Aventador Coupé in 2013, ending the lifecycle of the V12 after half-a-century of blood-curdling thunder and performance, the auto-world sat up and took note.

Enthusiasts had nothing to worry about—the Aventador’s power and handling are extraordinary, the car’s shape the epitome of Lamborghini’s aggressive style-guide. The monocoque is carbon-fibre, the engine a mid-mount 6.5-liter V-12 generating 700hp at 8,250rpm, the suspension an F1-inspired front and rear horizontal mono-tube damper with push-rod system, and the result, a car that will inspire some hardcore emotion around the scanned Nordschleife in Project CARS 2.

Racing A Raging Bull

While Lamborghini has wet its feet in motorsports this century with its own Super Trofeo series of championships, the company has remained largely true to the legacy of Ferruccio Lamborghini, for whom the race on Sunday and sell on Monday school of thought never held much sway.
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Pure-bred racing Lamborghinis are rare. The Lamborghini Miura, one of the most recognizable and important cars in automotive history, was a project created in secret by the youthful Gian Paolo Dallara, who was given his start at Lamborghini in the early ’60s (on his way to becoming one of the world’s most elite chassis manufacturer). Codenamed the P400, Dallara’s idea had been to create an innovative sportscar that would have the potential to become Lamborghini’s first race car.

Ferruccio, on seeing the prototype for the first time, gave Dallara his go-ahead with one proviso—that the new car not be raced.

So when, in 2014, Lamborghini released the Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo, the motorsport world went into a bit of a frenzy. For Lamborghini enthusiasts, this was an event 50 years in the making.

The Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo’s design was overseen by Mr. Dallara himself, and comes with a 6-speed sequential mated to the 5.2-litre V10 pushing out a sublime-sounding 620hp. Dry weight for the Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo is 1,279KGs, and that means 100kmh arrives in 3.2 seconds on the way to 320kmh. The car’s enormous and adjustable rear-wing, meanwhile, is both functional and epic.

The car shines in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Series that travels to three continents—Europe, Asia and North America—delivering the thrills of this race-built Lamborghini to a captured worldwide audience and fan-base.
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The Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo also opened the door to Lamborghini joining the lucrative GT3 market in 2015 with the Lamborghini Huracán GT3. Project CARS 2 gets the 2016 version of this seriously capable GT3 winner, built in a close relationship with Barwell Motorsport, one of the UK’s most successful professional racing teams that have competed at the forefront of different motorsport categories for five decades.

For 2017, Barwell Motorsport is running a Huracán GT3 in the British GT Championship as well as in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. Driver Jon Minshaw currently leads the British GT Championship with four wins on the season including a fine drive to the checkers at Spa. Project CARS 2 will also come with liveries that run on all the Barwell Motorsport’s Huracán GT3s in both series.

The Lamborghini Huracán GT3’s success is built around an aluminium-carbon chassis that brings the car down to 1,230KGs with an optimum 42/58 front/rear weight distribution. Lamborghini again turned to Dallara for the aero’ work, and naturally Gian Paolo Dallara himself oversaw this project given his intimate ties to Lamborghini.
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To meet GT3 regs, the car is rear-wheel drive with Bosch Motorsport traction control. The 6-speed sequential ’box is mated to the same 90° 5.2-litre V10 engine in the Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo, but tuned down to 580hp for GT3 regs.

The performance of the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 has made it a staple of GT3 grids around the world—just in August alone, it will perform in a dozen GT3 series on four continents. And come September 22nd, it will bring its proven race-winning performance to Project CARS 2.

With seven of the most spectacular Lamborghinis of the last 20 years included with Project CARS 2 when it is released worldwide on September 22, 2017 on the PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, XBOX One, and PC via STEAM®, the only question that remains is—which Raging Bull will you drive first?